People are obsessed with the concoction of tea, fruit, coffee or milk and chewy "pearls" at the bottom of the cup
For those of you who have never tried or even heard of bubble tea, contrary to its name, it has no bubbles. There isn't always tea, either. Even so, people are obsessed with the concoction of tea, fruit, coffee or milk and chewy "pearls" at the bottom of the cup. In case you’re wondering, the pearls are boiled tapioca balls and full of sugar.
Where did the Bubble Tea originate?
While bubble tea now has a steady fan-following all over the world – namely, Canada, America and even Dubai – its originally came from Taiwan in the 1980s. Its origins, also have few different versions.
The first story takes us to the Hanlin Teahouse in Tainan, where the teahouse owner - Tu Tsong first experimented with white tapioca balls in 1986 to create bubble tea. Later, he added brown sugar to these tapioca balls which gave them a black hue. This is precisely why, you’ll find two types of bubble tea in Taiwan; one containing white tapioca balls, other with black tapioca balls.
The second tale is that of Liu Han-Chieh, the founder of Chun Shui Tang Teahouse in Taichung. He was inspired by Japanese cold coffee. In 1988, Ms. Lin Hsiu Hui - his product development manager, during a meeting, added the tapioca balls from her dessert into the iced tea. This random addition to the iced tea was loved by everyone in the meeting. And this is how bubble tea was born.